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Media Freedom, Pirate Radio & The Digital Revolution.
Originally a blog about running a Pirate Radio Station in Boulder Colorado, USA from early 2000 to early 2005 when the FCC finally shut Boulder Free Radio (KBFR) down. Will continue to post though on the developments of underground radio in all forms, analog and digital (from pirate radio to Podcasting). The world is changing and it's going to be interesting.

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Had an interesting thing happen over the last few days. A fellow that I've known for awhile now and completely trusted threatened to 'turn us in' to the FCC.

He produces a alternative world view show that, at times, pushes the limits. He works with another pirate in his state (Florida) that broadcasts this show (and it's also played on a local 'legit' AM station). He posts this show around the internet and we've been known to air it on occassion.

One of our DJ's, it seems, called him a jew hater. Or at least, that's what he thought (actually, the DJ said something about people in Florida being down on jews, no reference to anyone specific according to the DJ). Maybe not a smart thing to say on the DJ's part, but we don't censor shows in any way so, hey, anyone who wants to make an ass of him/herself is more than free to do so.

Regardless, this person in Florida took EXTREME offense. He called it libel and threate…

If you're interested in getting a look at our studio operatins manual, drop me an email. Carl Nimbus, our technical director, as put together a 22 page set up manual for the other technically minded in the group to work off it. It lays out all of our systems, how they work together, how we access them directly and remotely and how it all plays as one big distributed system. It's current made up of 10 computer systems in several locations using streams and WinVNC connections to control it from pretty much anywhere. Good stuff. Good job Carl!

Well, it's be awhile since I've posted. Much going on. We're getting a benefit concert moving forward in January. It's amazing how many local bands are willing to play for free. We originally wondered if we'd be able to find enough really good bands with a following that would come and we now have about twice what we can put on stage. I good problem I suppose. Just goes to show you, if you really support the local music scene, it'll support you. We're particularly thankful to The Fox theatre which is letting us host it there at very favorable terms. It's good to be part of the commnity.

What should you use? We've looked at several different programs and tried about half a dozen. For playing MP3's, there's just nothing as good as the standard: WinAmp. But, not the latest version. The 3.X version is a little on the bloated side and it doesn't support the hundreds of add ons that work only with the 2.X version of WinAmp. And it's still free.

We use version 2.91 (from http://classic.winamp.com/). We use it with RockSteady DSP plug in (a great little plug in that equalizes the volume, both up and down, giving your station a very nice sound.. not too loud, not too soft). Just search for RockSteady on the website and download it. We use the 'harder' compression setting (middle setting).

For streaming, we found a very cool little application called SimpleCast from Spacial Audio. It costs $49 and it's rock solid. It also supports MP3 Pro (a new format that makes a 64kb stream sound more like 96kb,, some say 128kb). Be sure…